John Tony Olsson (born 13 March 1965 in

Visby Visby () is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably th ...

, Sweden) is a former international

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

rider. He was a member of the

Sweden speedway team Sweden are one of the major teams in international speedway. They have been managed by Mats Olsson, who is currently in his 2nd spell, since 2005 after he quit in 2000. The current captain is 2000 World Under-21 Champion Andreas Jonsson. Sp ...

when they finished third in the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

finals. He also represented his country at Test level.

Career

Born on the Norland Island Gotland, Tony Olsson began his career with the club Bysarna. In 1982 he made his debut for the senior team and already 1983 he won Rider of the season. He twice finished runner-up in the Swedish Under-21 Championship in 1984 and 1985. One year later in 1986, Olsson finished runner-up in the World Under-21 Championship, despite suffering an engine failure in one heat. In 1988 he played a huge part in Bysarna becoming Swedish champions. The same year he won the Swedish Pairs Championship with former

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Per Jonsson Per Jonsson (born 21 March 1966 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1990, and finished runner-up in 1992. Career In 1985, his second season with the Reading Racers, the team won six major ...

. In 1991 he won it again with

Dennis Löfqvist Dennis Löfqvist (born 1 January 1967) is a former speedway rider from Sweden. Speedway career Löfqvist rode in the top tier of British Speedway from 1989 until 1992, riding for King's Lynn Stars. He stood as reserve for the final of the Sp ...

. In 1989 Olsson became the only Swedish rider to qualify for the World Final in Munich. In the only World Final of his career he finished in eighth place. Olsson rode in the UK for the

Reading Racers Reading Racers are a British motorcycle speedway team. Formed in 1968, they won four British League titles during their history. The club closed in October 2008 after the lease on Smallmead Stadium was sold and the site was demolished. In 2016 a ...

from 1986, where he became the team captain and then onto the

Swindon Robins The Swindon Speedway team, also known as the Swindon Robins, are an English motorcycle speedway team established in 1949 that have competed primarily in the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom. They are five times l ...

for a year in 1991 after he was forced out of Reading's line-up due to

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

restrictions after winning the British League Championship in 1990. He returned in 1993 after a loan spell with

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British motorcycle speedway, speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier List of United Kingdom speedway league champions, League championship 13 times. They currently compete ...

. In 1994, whilst on loan again to the

, he won the

British League Division Two Pairs Championship The British League Division Two Pairs Championship, named the National League Pairs Championship in the years that the second division was known as the National League was a motorcycle speedway contest between the top two riders from each club co ...

, partnering

Tony Langdon Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, during the

1994 British League Division Two season The 1994 British League Division Two season was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom. The British League Divisions 2 and 3 were disbanded after this season and did not return until 1997. An Academy League was introduc ...

. He returned to the Racers in 1995 and in his final season in 1996 he was voted 'Rider of the Year' by the Reading fans.Reading Speedway Official Website
(accessed 2 October 2007)

Retirement

After his retirement he became the team manager of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. As team manager he won the Speedway World Championship in 2003 and 2004. He now works as Race Director in the Speedway Grand Prix.

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

- 8th - 8pts

World Team Cup

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, is the home of Bradford Bulls Rugby League team. It has also been used by the Bradford Dukes speedway team, BRISCA F1 and F2 stock cars, the football team Bradford City, following the Valley ...

(with

Erik Stenlund Erik Stenlund (born 26 May 1962) is a former speedway rider from Sweden. Speedway career Stenlund is a two times world champion at the Individual Ice Speedway World Championship (1984 & 1988) and a former champion of Sweden, winning the Swed ...

Jimmy Nilsen Jimmy Nilsen (born 16 November 1966) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. Career Jimmy Nilsen was Swedish Champion in 1996 after finishing 3rd in 1994. Nilsen also rode in five World Finals as well as representing ...

/ Jan Andersson) - 4th - 73pts (0) *

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, Veterans Memorial Stadium (with

Conny Ivarsson Conny Ivarsson (born 15 April 1965) is a former speedway rider from Sweden. Speedway career Ivarsson was a leading speedway rider during the 1980s. He reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in the 1988 Individual Speedway World ...

Henrik Gustafsson Henrik Anders (Henka) Gustafsson (born 14 August 1970 in Sköllersta, Sweden) is an international Motorcycle speedway rider who won the 1993 World Pairs Championship with Tony Rickardsson and the Speedway World Team Cup with Sweden in 1994 and 2 ...

) - 3rd - 22pts (4) *

(with

Mikael Blixt Mikael Blixt (born 8 August 1964) is a former speedway rider from Sweden. Speedway career Blixt rode in the top tier of British Speedway during the 1982 British League season, riding for the Poole Pirates. He returned nine years later to co ...

) - 3rd - 30pts (7)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Tony 1965 births Living people Swedish speedway riders Reading Racers riders Swindon Robins riders Exeter Falcons riders Ipswich Witches riders Sportspeople from Gotland County